Improvement in hoes



J. 0. PLUMER.

Hoe.

Patented Mar. 20. 1866.

fnverz 22,

N. PErEns, FHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHMGTON. n cy ArENr FF ICEt J. O.PLUMER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN HOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 53,332, dated March 20,1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J. O. PLUMER, of Boston, in the Commonwealth ofMassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Hoes; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, making part of this specification, in which Figure 1represents a view of my improved adjustable hoe; Fig. 2, a section ofthe same; Fig. 3, another view with the screw placed over the shank anda piece of rubber beneath it.

The object of my invention is to make a simple and uncombined hoe whichshall have an adjustable and removable blade so arranged in reference tothe handle that it will admit of a variation of its inclination to thehandle, and of its being permanently secured at any desired planerelative to the handle, and so that the hang of the hoe can be adjustedto the various inclinations of the surface of the earth or the height ofthe person using it; so, also, to admit of easy and ready removal of theblade from the handle for sharpening and other purposes.

Hitherto in the manufacture of hoes the blade has been rigidly andpermanently attached to the handle, so as to admit of no motion of theblade or variation of the angle it makes with the handle or ofconvenient removal. Amendment in this particular has been foundpractically necessary, since an inclination or hang of the blade properfor a person of one height is unsuitable to another, and, furthermore,because the same hang of the blade is not desirable even for the sameperson under all circumstances of use, a different inclination beingrequisite for deep hoeing from that required for superficial hoeing.

Another inconvenience attending the construction of the hoe in thecommon form is the impossibility of grinding the edge of the blade whenthus permanently attached to the handle.

My invention consists in attaching the blade of the hoe to the handlethereof by an improved arrangement which will admit of a change whichthe blade makes with the handle through the motion of the shank workingin the socket, to which the shank can be permanently secured at twopointsits end and its body or main portion--whatever its position in thesocket and whatever the inclination of the blade to the handle, and ofthe ready removal of one from the other for the various purposesrequired.

I construct my improved hoe by providing a socket, substantially asshown at A, Fig. 1, made smaller at the bottom, or that portion nearestthe handle, so that the end of the shank of the blade may be receivedinto and fixed at the smaller end of the socket, while the body or mainportion of the shank is allowed to move backward and forward in thelarger part of the socket for the purpose of varying the plane of theblade relative of that of the handle, as shown by the dotted lines inFig. 2. I provide the larger end of the socket with a channel or slot, HH, Fig. 1, or with two or more holes instead thereof, to receive a boltpassing through the body or main portion of the shank for the purpose offixing it in different positions in the socket; or I fix this portion ofthe shank in different positions by a screw passing through the upperside of the socket and pressing against the upper surface of the body ormain portion of the shank in conjunction with the yielding resistance,as shown at B, Fig. 3.

Another mode of fixing the body of the shank in different positions inthe socket is by having notches in the margins of the larger end of thesocket to receive projections from this portion of the shank, while theend of the shank is secured to its place at the bottom of the socket bya bolt or screw passing into or through it. The socket may have aprojection from its smaller end to be inserted into the end of thehandle, or may be of one piece with the ferrule which receives the endof the handle.

I am aware that a combined spade or hand rake and hoe attached to thesame handle has been made and so as to admit of interchange of use, andeach fixable on the same plane relative to the handle for its intendeduse, and that a combined hoe-blade and rake-head has been made soarranged as to be convertible in their uses, the former to those of aspade, the latter to those of a fork, each fixable on the one planerelative to the handle for its intended use. These are totally differentfrom mine in purpose, construction, and use.

I am also aware that forks have been so constructed that the blades maybe made to revolve on the handle for the purpose of conversion from oneuse to another. The mechanism of these is different from my invention.In my invention the end of the shank is fixed and capable of being fixedand held stationary in the body or main portion thereof.

I do not claim a rake or fork in which the end of the shank is movablewhile the body or main portion is fixed; neither do 1 claim a combinedspade, fork, hoe, and rake attached to the same handle, so as to admitof an interchange of use nor a combined hoe-blade and J O. PLUMER.

Witnesses WILLIAM H. CLIFFORD, GEORGE F. CLIFFORD.

